The Aftermath
by Vegemaryam
Summary: Set after Quinn's car accident in Season 3 Episode 14 "On my way". Its a faberry fic, set from Rachels point of view. A work in progress.
1. Chapter 1

Rachel paced the corridors of the hospital. Her wedding dress was no longer white. It had Quinn's blood on it.

All the excitement from her day had drained away. She looked around the waiting room. Finn was sitting on the couch, his hands on his face. Santana had her arm around Brittany, comforting her while also wiping away the tears streaming down her face. The rest of the Glee club sat silently, looks of disbelief on their faces. The last time they were here for Quinn was when she was having the baby. That was such a happy occasion, and it seemed like a lifetime ago.

Rachel felt the panic rise up inside her. She was mad at everyone for just sitting there, not saying anything, not doing anything. But mostly, she was mad at herself for telling Quinn to hurry to the wedding. The guilt was becoming unbearable and she could no longer hold herself up anymore. Rachel backed into a wall and slid down. She lets the tears stream out.

Finn lifted his head and rushed over to Rachel. He knelt down and put his hand on Rachel's shoulder.

"She's going to be O.K Rachel." He said, in a soothing voice.

Rachel pushed his hand away and wiped her tears.

"What if she's not O.K Finn? What do we do then?" Rachel yelled back. Her anger took Finn by surprise. His expression changed back into worry and he sat down next to Rachel.

Rachel hadn't realised how much Quinn meant to her until this moment. She had always liked the head cheerio, even when Quinn was mean to her all those years ago. After Quinn joined the glee club, they had started becoming friends. Recently, Rachel was starting to feel more. Those feelings scared her. She knew that she loved Finn, and she hoped that marrying him would make feelings for Quinn go away.

Rachel never got a chance to tell Quinn any of this. Partly because she was afraid Quinn would be horrified, and partly because she wondering if Quinn felt the same way. What would Rachel do? How would she tell Finn? But now she couldn't even see Quinn. The doctors said Quinn's condition was critical. She was somewhere, behind those hospital doors, and no one knew what was going to happen next.

After what seemed like hours, a doctor walked out from behind the operation room doors. He was wearing scrubs and his eyes looked tired. Rachel looked up at him; he was also covered in Quinn's blood.

"Are you all here for Quinn Fabray?" He said, sounding as tired as he looked.

There was a murmur of "yes" and a few nods from the Glee club.

"I can't tell you much, just that she is now in a stable condition. She isn't awake yet, and there is no telling how long she will be in this condition. I would advise that she doesn't have visitors just yet, maybe just family?"

The doctor scanned the room, looking for a family member.

Rachel stood up. She felt woozy from lack of sleep, guilt, and worry. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She tried again.

"Quinn's family can't be contacted, we've left messages. But…but she's very important to me. Can I see her?"

The doctor looked down at Rachel, wearing a blood stained wedding dress. He often tried not to feel too much for his patients, it would take a huge toll on him, but there was something about this girl, standing in front of him, pleading to see a friend who nearly died on her wedding day.

"Of course." The doctor nodded and led Rachel towards the doors.

Rachel knew what it felt like to be nervous. She had performed in front of hundreds of people plenty of times. But this was a whole new type of nervous. Her stomach was in knots, and she felt like passing out. She followed the doctor down the hallway; half hoping the hallway would keep going. They finally stopped in front of room 419. Rachel could feel her heart beating loudly. She looked at the doctor and wondered if he could hear her heartbeat too.

The doctor rubbed his eyes, looked at his watched, then opened the door slowly. He held the door open for Rachel.

Rachel held her breath. Nothing could have prepared her to for the state Quinn was in. Quinn was lying in the hospital bed, eyes closed, with one leg in a cast. There were various drips in her arm and she had lots of scratches on her arms and face. The doctor left the room, leaving Rachel alone with the unconscious Quinn.

Rachel walked up to the bed slowly. Quinn was breathing very heavily. Despite all the pain Quinn must have been in, she looked peaceful. Rachel thought about the last time they talked. Quinn had decided to support Rachel's marriage to Finn. They had hugged, and Rachel felt warmth that she had never felt with anyone else before, not even Finn.

The room was quiet, with the occasional sounds of the machines beeping. Rachel reached out her hand and stroked Quinn's open palm. Her hands were soft, but her marred with the occasional scratch from the car accident. Rachel couldn't hold the tears in any longer. She put her head on Quinn's arm and started to cry.

The door opened suddenly and Rachel lifted her head up to see that it was Judy Fabray, Quinn's mother. Judy rushed in, tears streaming down her face. Two doctors followed and Judy started asking them questions. Rachel felt like she was in the way so she backed out of the room, not taking her eyes off Quinn.


	2. Chapter 2

Rachel stumbled down the hallway, holding her hand out to the wall to keep her balance. She had just seen Quinn, lying in a hospital bed looking like she had just beaten death.

_Just._

She walked into the waiting room where the rest of the glee club was still waiting. Kurt looked up and saw Rachel stumbling. He walked towards her, putting his arm around her in comfort.

"How is she?" He whispered.

Rachel wiped away a tear. Her sleeves were soaked from all her tears.

"She's alive, barely. She's connected up to all these machines. She's not awake, and I can't tell her I'm sorry. This is all my fault!"

Rachel started to cry, unable to hold herself up from all the grief. Kurt held onto her, doing his best to wipe her tears away. The glee club looked on, unable to comprehend what was happening.

Rachel woke up feeling groggy and wondering where she was. It took a while for her eyes to adjust and she realised she was in Finns bed. She suddenly remembered all the events that had happened and instantly sat up.

"Quinn." She whispered to herself.

She got out of Finn's bed and walked out into the hallway. Kurt was walking towards her with a tray with breakfast laid out on it.

"Rachel, you're awake! I was just bringing you breakfast." He said, motioning with his head towards the tray.

"Kurt, I don't have time to eat, I have to go see Quinn." Rachel said, while trying to shimmy past Kurt towards the stairs.

Kurt moved to block Rachel's path. He put the tray down, and crossed his arms and looked at Rachel.

"Okay Rachel, firstly, you can't go see Quinn because it's not visiting hours right now. Secondly, I made these delicious pancakes from scratch so you are going to march back into the room and eat them. Thirdly, I think it's time we had a talk about you and Quinn."

Rachel looked a little taken aback. The way Kurt mentioned Quinn seemed like he knew what Rachel's real feelings were for her. She walked back into Finn's room and sat at the desk chair. Kurt followed with the tray in his hand and then instantly did a 180-degree turn and walked back out. Rachel leaned in the chair to see what Kurt was doing, standing in the hallway.

"Um…Kurt?" Rachel said, puzzled.

"I'm sorry Rachel" Kurt replied. "But Finn's room smells like smelly feet and football player farts. How about we go eat in my room?"

Rachel sniffed the air, and realised that Kurt was right. She promptly got up and followed Kurt to his room down the hall. He opened his door and placed the tray at the desk and motioned for Rachel to sit down. Rachel smelt the delicious smell of the pancakes and instantly realised how hungry she was.

Kurt sat down on his bed and crossed his legs. He watched Rachel enjoying the pancakes he made for her and felt satisfied that his friend was finally eating. Rachel saw Kurt staring at her and immediately checked her face in the mirror.

"Is there food on my face or something?" Rachel said, sounding worried.

Kurt smirked and shook his head. He then remembered what he wanted to talk to Rachel about, and shifted uncomfortably.

"Rachel, there's something I wanted to talk to you about." Kurt said.

"When we were at the hospital, you came out from seeing Quinn and you sort of lost it. You were crying, and you fell to the floor and we couldn't console you. Your dad's tried to take you home, but you clung to me and so they said you could stay at our house."

Rachel stopped eating her pancakes and turned to give Kurt her full attention.

He continued with the events of that night.

"Finn insisted that you stay in his room and he slept on the couch. I stayed with you all night, and you kept going in and out of sleep. You were saying things, I didn't know what you were talking about at first, but after a while, and I pieced it together."

He looked at Rachel, trying to read her expression. She avoided his gaze, and stared down at her pancakes.

Kurt opened his mouth, and closed it again.

"Rachel?" Kurt said, moving towards her and putting his hand on hers.

"Do you love Quinn?" He asked.

Rachel looked down at her hands, and then at Kurt's face. Tears started forming at the corners of her eyes.

"I…I think so Kurt. I'm not sure. She just makes me feel…alive. In a way that Finn doesn't." Rachel felt horrible for saying that.

Kurt gently pulled Rachel off the chair and sat her down on his bed so he could put his comforting hand on her back. He wiped away Rachel's tears again. He was getting good at that.

"Rachel, why didn't you say anything to me? I could have helped you." Kurt said, soothingly.

"I didn't know what I feeling. I was scared, because I'm not supposed to feel like this. I'm supposed to want to kiss the high school quarterback, not the high school cheerleader!" Rachel felt tired all of a sudden. Thoughts of Quinn were coming back to her, and mental images of Quinn lying in the hospital bed were bringing back more tears.

Kurt pulled Rachel closer to him and held her and let her cry.

Finn stood outside in the hallway, with his back to the wall. He was holding cereal, milk and a bowl for Rachel's breakfast. The conversation he had overheard was just sinking in. He was angry, and felt stupid for not seeing how his girlfriend felt about him. More importantly, how his girlfriend felt about his _ex girlfriend_. He slowly walked down the stairs, left the food on the kitchen bench, grabbed his car keys and walked out the door, slamming it behind him.

Kurt heard the door slam and wondered if someone had come home. He laid Rachel on his bed and walked down to investigate. Rachel lay on Kurt's bed thinking about what she had just admitted to herself and to Kurt. The girl she loved was fighting for her life in the hospital. She had to make sure that Quinn made it though all of this because Rachel was finally ready to tell Quinn how she felt.


End file.
